ABSTRACT
The third book, Scrutinies, begins with a tirade of self-reproach as Jung identifies that his soul has flown to the heavens after all of these initiatory ordeals, leaving him a bare and empty shell. But while describing these ordeals and admitting that they feel like personal experiences of some kind Jung cannot identify where they came from. At this point the figure of an old magician, Philemon, who first appeared in Liber Secundus, comes to him but Jung is wary of him as he sees him as a practitioner of the black arts and a charlatan. Philemon’s first words to him in Scrutinies convey a master-slave relationship, leaving Jung dismayed at his confusing and meaningless statements. This book contains further initiatory ordeals and then a debate Jung has with his soul over her role in the dissociation process. It could be argued that the entire conversation between Jung, his soul and Philemon in Scrutinies is an attempt by his middle-aged self to revisit, recreate or replay the inexplicable memories of a terrifying indoctrination process undergone when he was a minor.
